Could T-Mac be a good bench style player that gives you good passing, double teams, and can score in bunches? Something like what Grant Hill turned into for the Suns?
A healthy T-Mac assesses every major deficiency the Rockets currently have. Size, athleticism, play making, a closer, an elite perimeter scorer, a go-to guy, an elite PnR threat, etc... You want an easy way to solve the Yao being fronted issue? Simply have McGrady on the floor, that defense is rendered null and void by default. Aside from height on the frontline McGrady brings every single thing this team currently needs in order to be considered elite. His poor FG% are a result of bad 3pt attempts something Adelman could handle if he wanted to.
He is not healthy, may never be again, and the Rockets as a franchise can not afford to wait to see if he will be.....and he is not that efficient as a scorer anyway. DD
For all you guys who keep saying McGrady would be a great player to come off the bench stop dreaming. He is to popular for that to happen. That is something he has to do on his own. If McGrady is able to play he is going to start no matter what. Look at this season when he was in and out of the lineup. He took himself out of the lineup for 2 weeks and came back and was automatically starting. Im sure whatever happens during rehab, training camp, and pre-season you'll see McGrady starting and not coming off the bench.
I don't think the fronting of Yao is as big a deal with McGrady playing. He and Yao had a nice pick and roll game. He's also the best creator on the team by far. If McGrady is injured and still trying to find his game, as was the case this year, then he is definitely not good for the team. However, a healthy McGrady is pretty damn good. You just hope he buys into the team concept and there are a lot of questions about that.
DUDE U ROCK!!!! You are definitely starting to become one of my favorite posters on this board. Good work.
This I want from the Rockets next season and HOPE: Resign: Artest & Wafer Sign backup center and a rebounding n defensive minded PF that can come off the bench. Sign a athletic SF or SG that can knock down 3's. I hope Joey Dorsey can be our next backup center/pf. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY GET BACK HEALTHY YAO N TMAC THAT CAN PLAY THE ENTIRE SEASON. I believe Tmac will come out playing stronger n better next season as he needs to because its his final season of his contract. Rockets also in need of a playmaker and i dont think there is too many out there. Best playmakers that are big guards in NBA are very few Kobe, Lebron, Wade just to name some. Tmac is as good as them in terms of a playmaking ability and this team can use him. Even without Tmac, Rockets made some noise in the playoffs and I think Rockets should stick with this core. Projected lineup or lineup i would like to see: Yao Scola Battier Tmac Brooks Bench: Dorsey or another big man that can defend n crash boards. Landry/Hayes Artest/free agent or draft(long range shooter) Wafer/Barry Lowry I dont think this team needs a drastic change, just a tuneup. Limit Tmac n Yaos minutes during the regular season as Rockets team is still strong enough to beat most teams with Yao n Tmac.
I agree he probably won't be healthy which will result in even more long jumpers. I don't think he needs to be efficient to be a positive offensive impact to close the game in the 4th. Ideally you want to keep his minutes low, maybe as a backup, and let him go off in the fourth and against pressure defense. Right not its pointless to even debate, the chance that T-Mac returns at anything above 70% is small.
Everything right now is a dream until we see him what he can do after a major surgery. One thing is for sure, this current team almost beat a team that has most wins in the WC in round 2 playoffs. If you're thinking tmac could have made a difference in this series, maybe yes maybe not. Again, one thing is sure that we got beaten by Blazers because tmac didn't check his man that made the winning 3pt shot. That is a fact.
We need a 23 million dollar playmaker that doesn't help the team in any other discernable way??? Rocket River
WHOOP! There it is! Unless he changes his mentality and accept a lesser role. . . it won't work Rocket River
23 million dollar closer??? man, if the current roster can play well in 3 quarters, there's no reason why they can't be better in the 4th talent-wise.
I'd gladly keep Tracy if he was willing to quit shooting jump shots all the time and start driving to the basket. Taking it to the rim is how he gets his points, he's not that great of a jump shooter.
and if we really want to keep tmac, he should start from the bench next year because our current roster is a complete monster.
Is EFFICIENCY the DaDa Catchphrase for the summer of 09? Rocket River I think it was Potential last couple of years
Actually Tmac was great at making open jumpers. But he often chose to pull a difficult one, many of them were not necessary. He got the bad habit in Orlando, and it's hard to get rid of.
